Fellow's Projects

The controversy surrounding the M503 air route started in January 2018. On 4 January, China announced the new northbound flights on the M503 route, which lies very close to the middle line of the cross-Strait air border. This is not a new route, as many commentators have already mentioned. The M503 route had initially been discussed in 2015, due to the fact that the then President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jou and his party the Kuomintang (KMT) were in power and seeking closer trade ties to the China.

Monitoring the implementation of China's overseas NGO law: The view from Europe

Picture description: Group picture taken during ESRC IAA Workshop in London, 14 June 2017 'Civil society cooperation with China: from engagement to divestment?' (Dr Fulda third from left, Ms Macbean eighth from left, Dr Patrick Schroeder third from right, Dr Fabian eighth from right).

Dr Andreas Fulda

In September 2017, Dr Andreas Fulda from the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham was awarded a prestigious grant from the Ford Foundation. The project 'Monitoring the implementation of China's overseas NGO law: The view from Europe' has two overarching objectives:

To monitor and evaluate the state of implementation of China's Overseas NGOs Law by documenting the intended and unintended consequences of the new law for European NPOs and their Chinese partners

To re-conceptualise people-to-people exchanges in EU-China relations by identifying and documenting new and innovative approaches to critical, creative and constructive European China engagement

Research for this project is being carried out by Dr Fulda and his team members Ms Nicola Macbean (The Rights Practice), Dr Patrick Schroeder (Institute of Development Studies) and Dr Horst Fabian (independent researcher and EU-China Civil Society Ambassador).

Project implementation has begun in October 2017 and field research and outreach activities will be conducted until 31 December 2018. 24 European NPO leaders in the eight European member states United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy will be interviewed by the research team. Stakeholder workshops in Brussels and Berlin will provide additional venues for experience sharing among European NPO leaders, academics and government officials.

Listen to Andreas talk about the project:

Towards an EU-Taiwan Investment Agreement: Prospects and Pitfalls

Michael Reilly

In late 2015, against a background of growing populist opposition to international trade agreements, the European Commission announced its willingness to negotiate a comprehensive bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan. While this should be relatively straightforward, this book warns that it is unlikely to be so. The major stumbling block is not Chinese opposition, as is so often assumed, or populist resistance but a lack of sufficient political will on both sides. This stems from a mutual lack of awareness which in turn is due to the relative stagnation of bilateral trade. A successful outcome would therefore act as a catalyst in developing relations further.

The author examines the principal obstacles to reaching an agreement and the ways of overcoming them. The book should be of interest to policy makers, negotiators and advisors involved in the forthcoming negotiations but also to anyone with an interest in the EU's relations with Taiwan.